Title: Missing Him
Author: FactVsFiction
Pairing: Shunsui/Nanao
Disclaimer: I don't own bleach!!!
OoOoOoOoOoOo
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Nanao-san… I'm breaking up with you. I'm sorry…"
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Soto- Kyouya. Third seat of the ninth division. Otherwise known as the counter part of Ise-Nanao's very soul.
Quiet and well spoken, educated and intelligent, Reasonably powerful and an amazing kidou artist. Rangiku had hit the jackpot when she'd set them up on the off chance that Nanao may actually enjoy his company.
He was funny and conversation flowed easily. They found commonalities almost everywhere. Kidou, politics, manner, music… They'd connected instantly on so many levels…
Nanao liked Kyouya. She liked Kyouya a lot. She enjoyed his company and if she was blunt the sex was great.
He was so together. Sensible and thoughtful. She really couldn't ask for anything more. Nanao knew that Rangiku was absolutely green with envy. She wanted her own soul mate.
A soul mate.
That was the problem. He was perfect, almost suspiciously so but he wasn't her soul mate. He held the door for her, he was good with the senior officers, he was always on time and never made her wait. Nanao didn't think she'd ever argued with him even once in their six months together… That was the problem.
The longer Nanao stayed with him the more aware she became of what and who she really needed. No matter how agreeable Kyouya was in other areas there was only one man on the planet that shared her taste in literature and art. One soul mate.
Shunsui Kyoraku had backed off when Matsumoto had declared Nanao and Kyouya public. At first Nanao had delighted in it. Relished in her freedom and her space and he'd been so much easier to work with. The happiness hadn't lasted long though. She was happy with Kyouya, comfortable in their relationship, but she'd quickly deemed Shunsui's distance completely uncomfortable.
She missed it all.
She missed yelling at him, she missed their fights. She missed cursing him to hell and back at two am because he'd neglected his paperwork again. She missed his attempts to steal kisses. She missed his closeness. Kyouya gave her all the space she needed and she loved that. It had caused a startling realisation however. Kyoraku-Shunsui was the only person allowed to crowd her. She couldn't even remember the last time he'd invaded her personal space and that hurt far more than it ever should have. She missed it all. She missed the roller coaster of emotions he had put her on daily without fail.
She missed him.
And now she stood in front of Kyouya as she was broken up with and didn't feel a thing. Not one tiny pang of hurt, no sadness, no regrets. Nothing… Just… Nothing.
"I'm so sorry Nanao-san."
She could see the concern in his eyes, the worry. He cared and cared greatly for her but the look in his eyes was all she needed to know that he just wasn't it for her.
He couldn't tell. He couldn't read her like a book. Couldn't tell this didn't hurt. That her heart wasn't breaking.
"It's okay." She said calmly.
"I'm sorry."
She offered him a smile.
"I'm fine Kyouya. It's okay."
"Really?"
"We were gone as far as we were going I think."
"Oh thank gods." He said, relaxing a bit.
"Don't be a stranger Kyouya, okay?"
"I won't. Friends?"
"Friends." Said Nanao, taking the offered hand.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Nanao checked her watch as she left the ninth division compound. It was just after one in the morning and the rain was pouring down. She had no intention of going to bed though. As ridiculous as it sounded she wanted the comfort the office offered her, the familiar space and smells.
She was a little surprised to find the light was still on but let herself inside. She was soaked to the skin from her walk and shivering from the cold.
Shunsui looked up from the bookshelf, he'd been a lot more sober lately…
He offered her a rather concerned smile. He knew immediately, she knew he would.
"You okay Nanao-chan?"
"I'm fine taichou." She said with a sincere smile that earned a grin in return from Shunsui.
"You're drenched." He said, opening a press and throwing her a towel.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Asked Nanao as she towelled her hair.
"Didn't feel like it." He sat down on the couch with a book and patted the seat beside him. She took it without argument. This was the longest conversation they'd had in half a year and she was brimming with pure happiness.
He took off his captain's haori from under his flowery one and threw it round her.
"You'll catch your death Nanao-chan."
She sighed softly and pulled it close around her, pulling the scent closer and breathing it in softly.
"What happened? I thought you two were forever."
"Everyone but I did apparently. His taste in literature is dreadful." She said with a small smile.
Shunsui chuckled. He knew exactly how she meant him to interpret that and his heat swelled.
"You missed me! Didn't you Nanao-chan?!"
She smacked him with her fan. Gods it felt good. He was infuriating and completely frustrating but still absolutely intoxicating.
"You did! My Nanao-chan missed me!"
She shook her head in amusement.
"I missed you." She said simply.
Shunsui calmed himself and offered her a genuine smile this time.
"I'm glad."
She smiled.
"Can I? Please?"
"Since when do you ask sir?"
With a lopsided grin he gathered her in a surprisingly gentle hug. He could have danced when she returned it.
He kissed her softly on the cheek before she pulled away. He knew it would always be two steps forward one step back with he and Nanao but for now at least it seemed they were heading in the correct direction.
A hand wandered down her side and it was slapped away as it reached her hip. Yep. He loved this.
"Okay okay I get it."
"You'd better." She warned. "What are you reading?"
"Pride and Prejudice."
"That's my favourite."
"I know."
"Of course you do."
"Lie down. I'll read it to you." He gently guided her head to his lap and she allowed it, stretching out across the couch, still wrapped in his haori.
This was where she belonged, she realised as she lay listening to her captain's baritone fill the room, habitually hitting his hand as it wandered from her hair.
He was a nuisance but he was her nuisance and she didn't want it any other way.
